After making the announcement last month, the Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is finally rolling out a feature that lets its users react to messages with an emoji, as well as share files over 2GB in size, which is a notable increase from the previous 100MB minimum.

(Photo : AFP via Getty Images)
A picture taken on March 23, 2022 in Moscow shows the US instant messaging software Whatsapp logo on a smartphone screen.

Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg posted on his wall that the emoji reactions are finally available on the messaging app. The company also revealed that they will be doubling the maximum size of group chats starting today.

"We're excited to share that emoji reactions are now available on the latest version of the app. Reactions are fun, fast, and they reduce overload in groups too. We'll continue improving them by adding an even broader range of expressions in the future," the platform wrote in its blog.

WhatsApp released a beta version of the feature last month, which was only limited to a few people, but the feedback that they received has been mostly positive. They have decided to make it accessible to every user.

Read Also: WhatsApp Feature Enables Multi-phone and Tablet Chatting 

Similar to Messenger

This feature is notably similar to Facebook's messenger, where users can react to messages with six different emojis.

However, Meta noted prior to its launch that these emoji reactions will only be limited, unlike Messenger, which features various emojis and skin tones.

The company said that they will still be working on other emojis and reactions.

These reactions will include a red heart, thumbs up, laughter, a sad face, a surprise face, and a "thanks" emoji.

Apps like Slack and Telegram have used this feature for a while because of how interactive and useful these reactions are. If a user wants to react to a message without congesting the chat, the emoji reactions could do that for them. 

This feature is also similar to Instagram's Direct Messages. If users want to enjoy these reactions, they must first ensure that their WhatsApp is updated.

But more importantly, WhatsApp is also expanding its default maximum size of group chats, which used to be 256, but now it will be doubled to 512. According to the app, this is one of the top requests that they have received ever since. 

"Building private, safe, and secure communities takes work and we think this series of improvements will help people and groups stay close to one another," the company said.

However, it must be noted that according to WhatsApp's blog post, this feature is still "slowly rolling out" in the app.

Furthermore, users will be able to send files within WhatsApp that are up to 2GB in size at a time and still protected by end-to-end encryption.

The massive increase of the previous limit of 100MB will be useful for organizations, small businesses, and school groups who are operating online via WhatsApp. But it is highly recommended that when large files are sent, the device must be connected to the WiFi to better upload or download them.

"We hope people enjoy these updates and look forward to sharing more throughout the year," WhatsApp said.

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This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla